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Julian P. Meeks, Ph.D.

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Julian P. Meeks, Ph.D.

About Me
Research
Publications

About Me

Dr. Meeks received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Saint Louis University in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis in 2006. His Ph.D. dissertation work in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Mennerick investigated the cellular and synaptic physiology of the hippocampus, and how action potential signaling and neurotransmitter release are altered in brain conditions that occur during epileptic seizures and stroke. He embarked on a new research journey as a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Holy. There, Dr. Meeks focused his studies on chemosensory physiology. He developed new techniques and analytical approaches to studying the accessory olfactory system, best known for its role in detecting and processing information from pheromones. His success as a postdoc resulted in being awarded a prestigious K99/R00 award from the National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) in 2011. He started his faculty career – and established the Chemosensation and Social Learning Laboratory – in 2012 at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, where he served as Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor through 2020. In 2020, Dr. Meeks moved the laboratory to University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. The laboratory continues to use quantitative physiology and behavioral approaches to understand how mammals sense environmental chemosignals, extract relevant information from them, and use the chemosensory information to guide their behavioral decisions.

Faculty Appointments

Associate Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD)

Associate Professor - Department of Pediatrics (SMD) - Joint

Associate Professor - Department of Pharmacology and Physiology (SMD) - Joint

Research

Dr. Meeks and the Chemosensation and Social Learning Laboratory seeks a better understanding about how mammalian chemosensory systems, including pheromone-sensing systems, guide animal social and reproductive behaviors. In most mammals, a major neural pathway that detects and processes social chemosensory information is called the accessory olfactory system, or AOS. The AOS begins in a small chemosensory organ called the vomeronasal organ (VNO), which senses environmental chemicals, encodes information about these chemicals in the form of action potentials, and sends this information into the first AOS neural circuit – the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) - in the brain.

We are globally driven to understand the AOS, starting with the initial chemosignal-receptor interactions in the VNO, continuing into the computations produced by the AOB, and finishing with observable changes in animal behavior. As an example of our specific research foci, we discovered natural mammalian chemosignals (including candidate pheromones) in feces, called bile acids, which convey information between animals related to species, sex, diet, and gut microbiome. In the AOB, we have discovered inhibitory neural populations that participate in experience-dependent neuroplasticity, modifying the way that animals learn from each others' during social interactions.

Through this work, including the many technical innovations we have implemented in pursuit our goals, we are continuing to advance our basic understanding of mammalian brain function and the links between sensory systems and social behavior.

Publications

Journal Articles

Combinatorial responsiveness of single chemosensory neurons to external stimulation of mouse explants revealed by DynamicNeuronTracker.

Noh J, Wong WM, Danuser G, Meeks JP

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.. 2024 September 24 Epub 09/24/2024.

Endogenous pathology in tauopathy mice progresses via brain networks.

Ramirez DMO, Whitesell JD, Bhagwat N, Thomas TL, Ajay AD, Nawaby A, Delatour B, Bay S, LaFaye P, Knox JE, Harris JA, Meeks JP, Diamond MI

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.. 2023 May 24 Epub 05/24/2023.

Expressing Accessory Olfactory Bulb Interneurons Support Chemosensory Social Behavioral Plasticity.

Zuk KE, Cansler HL, Wang J, Meeks JP

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2023 February 1543 (7):1178-1190. Epub 01/09/2023.

A Layered, Hybrid Machine Learning Analytic Workflow for Mouse Risk Assessment Behavior.

Wang J, Karbasi P, Wang L, Meeks JP

eNeuro.. 2023 January 10 (1)Epub 01/09/2023.

Editorial: Bottom-Up and Top-Down: Molecules and Circuits That Underlie Chemosensory Behaviors.

Chamero P, Short SM, McIntyre JC, Meeks JP, Rothermel M

Frontiers in cellular neuroscience.. 2021 15 :729791. Epub 08/13/2021.

Paradoxically Sparse Chemosensory Tuning in Broadly Integrating External Granule Cells in the Mouse Accessory Olfactory Bulb.

Zhang X, Meeks JP

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2020 July 140 (27):5247-5263. Epub 06/05/2020.

Physiology-forward identification of bile acid-sensitive vomeronasal receptors.

Wong WM, Cao J, Zhang X, Doyle WI, Mercado LL, Gautron L, Meeks JP

Science advances.. 2020 May 6 (22):eaaz6868. Epub 05/29/2020.

Physiology-forward identification of bile acid-sensitive vomeronasal receptors.

Wong WM, Cao J, Zhang X, Doyle WI, Mercado LL, Gautron L, Meeks JP

Science advances.. 2020 May 6 (22)Epub 05/29/2020.

B cells migrate into remote brain areas and support neurogenesis and functional recovery after focal stroke in mice.

Ortega SB, Torres VO, Latchney SE, Whoolery CW, Noorbhai IZ, Poinsatte K, Selvaraj UM, Benson MA, Meeuwissen AJM, Plautz EJ, Kong X, Ramirez DM, Ajay AD, Meeks JP, Goldberg MP, Monson NL, Eisch AJ, Stowe AM

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2020 March 3117 (9):4983-4993. Epub 02/12/2020.

Light-sheet microscopy of cleared tissues with isotropic, subcellular resolution.

Chakraborty T, Driscoll MK, Jeffery E, Murphy MM, Roudot P, Chang BJ, Vora S, Wong WM, Nielson CD, Zhang H, Zhemkov V, Hiremath C, De La Cruz ED, Yi Y, Bezprozvanny I, Zhao H, Tomer R, Heintzmann R, Meeks JP, Marciano DK, Morrison SJ, Danuser G, Dean KM, Fiolka R

Nature methods.. 2019 November 16 (11):1109-1113. Epub 10/31/2019.

Interneuron Functional Diversity in the Mouse Accessory Olfactory Bulb.

Maksimova MA, Cansler HL, Zuk KE, Torres JM, Roberts DJ, Meeks JP

eNeuro.. 2019 6 (4)Epub 08/13/2019.

Visualization and Quantification of Post-stroke Neural Connectivity and Neuroinflammation Using Serial Two-Photon Tomography in the Whole Mouse Brain.

Poinsatte K, Betz D, Torres VO, Ajay AD, Mirza S, Selvaraj UM, Plautz EJ, Kong X, Gokhale S, Meeks JP, Ramirez DMO, Goldberg MP, Stowe AM

Frontiers in neuroscience.. 2019 13 :1055. Epub 10/04/2019.

Large-scale forward genetics screening identifies Trpa1 as a chemosensor for predator odor-evoked innate fear behaviors.

Wang Y, Cao L, Lee CY, Matsuo T, Wu K, Asher G, Tang L, Saitoh T, Russell J, Klewe-Nebenius D, Wang L, Soya S, Hasegawa E, Chérasse Y, Zhou J, Li Y, Wang T, Zhan X, Miyoshi C, Irukayama Y, Cao J, Meeks JP, Gautron L, Wang Z, Sakurai K, Funato H, Sakurai T, Yanagisawa M, Nagase H, Kobayakawa R, Kobayakawa K, Beutler B, Liu Q

Nature communications.. 2018 May 239 (1):2041. Epub 05/23/2018.

Excreted Steroids in Vertebrate Social Communication.

Doyle WI, Meeks JP

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2018 April 438 (14):3377-3387. Epub 03/08/2018.

Sensory Adaptation to Chemical Cues by Vomeronasal Sensory Neurons.

Wong WM, Nagel M, Hernandez-Clavijo A, Pifferi S, Menini A, Spehr M, Meeks JP

eNeuro.. 2018 5 (4)Epub 08/13/2018.

Experience-Dependent Plasticity in Accessory Olfactory Bulb Interneurons following Male-Male Social Interaction.

Cansler HL, Maksimova MA, Meeks JP

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2017 July 2637 (30):7240-7252. Epub 06/28/2017.

Heterogeneous effects of norepinephrine on spontaneous and stimulus-driven activity in the male accessory olfactory bulb.

Doyle WI, Meeks JP

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2017 March 1117 (3):1342-1351. Epub 01/04/2017.

Faecal bile acids are natural ligands of the mouse accessory olfactory system.

Doyle WI, Dinser JA, Cansler HL, Zhang X, Dinh DD, Browder NS, Riddington IM, Meeks JP

Nature communications.. 2016 June 217 :11936. Epub 06/21/2016.

Ex vivo preparations of the intact vomeronasal organ and accessory olfactory bulb.

Doyle WI, Hammen GF, Meeks JP

Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE.. 2014 August 4 (90):e51813. Epub 08/04/2014.

Functional organization of glomerular maps in the mouse accessory olfactory bulb.

Hammen GF, Turaga D, Holy TE, Meeks JP

Nature neuroscience.. 2014 July 17 (7):953-61. Epub 06/01/2014.

Electrical recordings from the accessory olfactory bulb in VNO-AOB ex vivo preparations.

Meeks JP, Holy TE

Methods in molecular biology.. 2013 1068 :237-46. Epub 1900 01 01.

Representation and transformation of sensory information in the mouse accessory olfactory system.

Meeks JP, Arnson HA, Holy TE

Nature neuroscience.. 2010 June 13 (6):723-30. Epub 05/09/2010.

An ex vivo preparation of the intact mouse vomeronasal organ and accessory olfactory bulb.

Meeks JP, Holy TE

Journal of neuroscience methods.. 2009 March 15177 (2):440-7. Epub 11/27/2008.

Pavlov's moth: olfactory learning and spike timing-dependent plasticity.

Meeks JP, Holy TE

Nature neuroscience.. 2008 October 11 (10):1126-7. Epub 1900 01 01.

High threshold, proximal initiation, and slow conduction velocity of action potentials in dentate granule neuron mossy fibers.

Kress GJ, Dowling MJ, Meeks JP, Mennerick S

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2008 July 100 (1):281-91. Epub 05/14/2008.

Action potential initiation and propagation in CA3 pyramidal axons.

Meeks JP, Mennerick S

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2007 May 97 (5):3460-72. Epub 02/21/2007.

Astrocyte membrane responses and potassium accumulation during neuronal activity.

Meeks JP, Mennerick S

Hippocampus.. 2007 17 (11):1100-8. Epub 1900 01 01.

Homeostatic regulation of glutamate release in response to depolarization.

Moulder KL, Meeks JP, Mennerick S

Molecular neurobiology.. 2006 April 33 (2):133-53. Epub 1900 01 01.

Action potential fidelity during normal and epileptiform activity in paired soma-axon recordings from rat hippocampus.

Meeks JP, Jiang X, Mennerick S

The Journal of physiology.. 2005 July 15566 (Pt 2):425-41. Epub 05/12/2005.

Plastic elimination of functional glutamate release sites by depolarization.

Moulder KL, Meeks JP, Shute AA, Hamilton CK, de Erausquin G, Mennerick S

Neuron.. 2004 May 1342 (3):423-35. Epub 1900 01 01.

Selective effects of potassium elevations on glutamate signaling and action potential conduction in hippocampus.

Meeks JP, Mennerick S

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2004 January 724 (1):197-206. Epub 1900 01 01.

Feeding hungry neurons: astrocytes deliver food for thought.

Meeks JP, Mennerick S

Neuron.. 2003 January 2337 (2):187-9. Epub 1900 01 01.